The very best gift of all is love

“All I want for Christmas….”

Over the years, the object of that phrase has changed until I now echo the sentiment so often shared by my mother and grandmother — “just you being here is enough.”

Certainly as a child I proclaimed I wanted a new bicycle, a tennis racket, a camera, or some other gift. One year, I said I wanted a watch. And, my parents and grandparents all gave me watches!

As a young mother, I was more interested in blessing my children and finding the perfect gift to give them rather than getting something for myself. It was joyous to see their eyes sparkle and delight radiate from their faces when they opened their gift and found exactly what they were wanting.

Now, with no young children in the home, as a mother to nine grown children and grandmother to 12 precious grandchildren, I truly mean it when I say: “I don’t want anything. Just your being here is more than enough.”

I didn’t believe my mother or grandmother when they said that. And my children don’t believe me now. But there will come a day, when they, too, will realize that there is no material gift that can compare with the gift of love.

Remember, it is CHRISTmas — a celebration of Christ. And, the climax of His desire was expressed in the longest prayer of His recorded in John 17.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am,” John 17:24. And, “that the love with which you (Father) have loved me may be in them.” (John 17:23)

When we were young, we spent Sunday afternoons, after church and dinner, at my great-grandmother’s house. The adults visited in the living room and the children — my brothers and cousins — would play relatively quietly on the front porch or in the yard. We didn’t realize it then, but we were a part of a blessing to MawMaw, my great-grandmother who bore eight children and had numerous grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.

Giving of yourself, whether your presence, or your time, is truly a good gift. I hope each of us will relish the gift of family and friends this holiday season.

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